Practice Makes Perfect
by Smarty Cat
Summary: [Oneshot] Heero. Relena. An unspoken attraction. Three massages. And a tube of cherryflavored edible body lotion. You do the math. 1xR and barely there citrus. ALL comments and criticisms are welcome.


**Please note: As of November 2011, ALL NEW FICS unrelated to previously posted works will be posted under the name Inverse Calico. A link is on my author profile.**

Several months ago Iris Anthe issued a massage fic challenge on the Heero and Relena Mailing List. This is my belated response to that. Innuendo, nudity, edible lotion, and licking of course (~_^) ahead. I don't think it's quite descriptive enough to be a lime, but I've been reading romance novels since age 10 and am rather desensitized. Be wary and censor yourselves please! Also note that this hasn't been beta-ed in my haste to post the darned thing.

**Disclaimer:** Gundam Wing is owned by Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and distributed in America exclusively under license by Bandai Entertainment. I own nothing remotely related to Gundam Wing except for various merchandise.  
**Completed:** July 7, 2003

_For Iris-mama, for issuing a challenge I just couldn't resist._

**Practice Makes Perfect  
**by  
**Smarty Cat  
**

Relena Darlian stared at the excited and hopeful faces of two of her closest friends. How she hated to disappoint them! She twisted her hands in her lap and looked away. "I don't know about this."

"What? Why not?" Noin leaned forward anxiously in her seat, trying to peer into her younger friend's eyes.

"I've never been a very physically affectionate person," Relena responded with an awkwardness she was unaccustomed to.

"It isn't about affection!" Sally exclaimed, rising from her chair and walking around Relena's desk to crouch at the diplomat's feet. She took both of Relena's hands in her own and squeezed reassuringly, smiling up into uncertain sea blue eyes.

"I know that, but letting some stranger put his hands all over me... I don't know."

"They won't be groping you, and you could use the rest and relaxation," Sally responded with gentle amusement as Noin joined them behind the desk.

"If you're really that uncomfortable we can find a woman for you," Noin soothed, dropping one hand friendlily on Relena's shoulder.

"Not at the spa we're going to," Sally reminded her with a laugh.

Noin blushed and patted Relena's shoulder awkwardly. "Just try to accustom yourself to the idea, Relena. It's really not that bad."

"We promise," Sally added with a mischievous smile.

x_x_x_x_x

Relena put her pen down on a finished stack of papers, wincing at the twinge in her upper back. Even she could feel the tenseness in her muscles, the way they stood out painfully along her neck and shoulders, but just the thought of stripping and lying passively before some unknown man caused her stomach to churn.

She dropped her head wearily, crossing her arms across her chest and kneading unsuccessfully at the large knots of muscle. After several moments of ineffective self-massage, during which she was ready to give up relief as a hopeless cause, Relena felt larger fingers brush her hands aside and stilled in shock. The strange hands rested lightly on her shoulders, and she darted a glance at them. The skin was darker than her own, the fingers long but blunt with short clean nails. Definitely masculine. Tiny scars marked the back of the palm, and she felt old calluses as one stray finger brushed against the exposed skin of her throat.

"Heero?" she questioned softly, her heart hammering against her ribs.

"Hn?" he hummed back absently, shifting his hands across her shoulders, feeling exactly how tense she was.

"What... what are you doing?"

"You won't be able to get these knots out by yourself. You can't approach them from the right angle," he replied brusquely, placing one large hand in the center of her back and pushing her forward so that she leaned across her desk. When she was suitably positioned it rose back to her shoulder, and his hands tightened. "It'll probably hurt at first," he added flatly.

He was right. Stabbing pains shot across her back as he worked his hands against the thick coil, rolling and prodding, smoothing and squeezing. She whimpered and bit her lip, firmly gripping her desk and tightening her whole body against the pain. The stabbing eventually subsided to an omnipresent dull ache and even that gradually disappeared under Heero's continued ministrations.

Relena's hands relaxed and her head drooped, a satisfied grin curling her lips unconsciously. She pushed her body into his hands much as a demanding cat would and thought she heard a snort. But his hands did not pause in their path across her back; indeed they seemed to go about their work more enthusiastically. The warmth and soothing friction of the massage felt so heavenly that Relena could not stop herself from expressing her appreciation and pleasure.

She moaned.

With that one small sound the atmosphere in the room changed completely. His hands stilled, though she could still feel his fingers flexing against her through the cloth of her jacket. Relena suddenly felt the waves of heat radiating off of Heero and became very conscious of his body behind her, his warm scent, the sheer masculinity of the figure holding her across her desk. She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, and fancied that he did too.

Heero made no move to continue with the massage, and though the petulant urge to beg him not to stop was there as well as the mischievous one to intentionally push him just to see how far he would go, she realized that both were probably not her best options. So she thanked him quite politely to dispel any awkwardness in the sudden ending.

He grunted in acknowledgment and drew away. Relena pushed herself upright, chewing on her lip thoughtfully as she pondered the idea surfacing in her mind. The massage had been an enjoyable experience, leading her to hope that the one at the spa would be as well, but there were still her personal reservations to be considered. And a slow adjustment is often best... especially when there are other advantages and possibilities as potential added bonuses. She had little to lose and everything to gain.

"Heero, I have a favor to ask." She smiled at him shyly when he paused with his hand on her door and looked back at her impassively. "Noin and Sally want to take me to a spa, and I'm rather uncomfortable with the idea of a strange male masseur. Could you help me practice?" she finished in a rush.

"Practice?" he repeated, his eyes widening fractionally and lightening with curiosity.

"Yes, let me pretend that you're the spa masseur... so I can accustom myself to... to it." She stood uncertainly with her hands clasped in front of her, once again feeling like the innocent schoolgirl who had asked a mysterious boy to her birthday party so long ago.

Heero did not answer. His eyes were distant, staring past her, and he appeared to be debating internally with himself.

"You can say no, Heero," she added kindly, to encourage him to make some sort of a decision and put an end to the butterflies in her stomach. "I won't mind."

"No," he responded absently, dragging his gaze back to her. He stared at her inscrutably for a long moment. "I'll do it."

Relena beamed and was rewarded with the faint darkening of his cheeks. "Thank you, Heero!" she called as he pulled the door closed behind him.

x_x_x_x_x

The legendarily composed Relena Darlian paced anxiously in her room. The main concern on her mind was how much clothing it was appropriate for her to wear. Noin and Sally had told her that they were usually naked except for a sheet or towel whenever they had professional massages. What Relena had seen on television seemed to confirm that extremely little clothing was appropriate, but she somehow didn't think that dress code applied when one was merely practicing with a bodyguard.

Therein lay her quandary. She had the inkling that clothing got in the way of the full impact of the massage, but there was modesty to consider as well. In addition to employer/employee propriety. So she paced in her underwear and ankle length bathrobe with her hair piled haphazardly on her head, having also felt that it would only impede Heero's efforts on her behalf.

Thankfully a quiet knock sounded at her door, taking the decision out of her hands and preventing her from continuing to second-guess herself. She rushed over and pulled the door open to reveal Heero standing in the deserted hallway still clad in his uniform. She ushered him in, peering almost guiltily out into the dark as the hall clock chimed ten o'clock.

"Heero! Thank you for coming."

They faced each other silently in the quiet interior of her darkened room. Relena toyed nervously with her belt. "Would it be better with the robe on or off?"

Heero closed his eyes, a look of intense concentration flickering on his face. She thought he sighed, but she was not sure. He opened his eyes, eyeing her coolly. "On. You wanted to adjust gradually, didn't you?"

"In steps, yes," she agreed, but she felt the need to point out, "but we're supposed to go to the spa the day after tomorrow, which doesn't really leave all that much time for lots of steps, and I didn't know if your schedule would be free—"

"I can come back tomorrow night," he cut in.

"I really appreciate this, Heero." She smiled shyly before glancing around her room. "Do you want to do it on the bed or on the desk?"

"Both."

She couldn't quite make out the word he mumbled but thought that it sounded like a "b." But just to be sure… "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

"Bed," he blurted with a clumsiness that was unusual for him.

Relena eyed him suspiciously for a moment then shrugged. "All right." She padded over to the plush pink canopy bed and flung herself on the mattress with a joyous screeching of springs. Heero flinched at the sound, his cheeks darkening, but she was riding out the waves of bounces that she had caused and did not see his reaction.

"Oh, I also bought some oils and lotions." She waved her arm vaguely at the laden bedside table before rolling over and crawling across the comforter to display her purchases. She picked one up and her brow wrinkled curiously at its logo. "Though I don't know why this one would be edible." She looked up at Heero curiously. "Is it common for other people to eat their lotion, do you think? I never have."

Heero remained silent. He wasn't sure that he could have spoken even if he knew what to say. A bead of nervous sweat slid down his temple.

Relena took his silence as equal bewilderment and idly squeezed a bit of the lotion onto her finger. She regarded the small glob of pink warily before hesitantly raising her finger to her mouth. Her tongue darted out from between moist red lips, and her eyes widened with surprise.

"It tastes just like cherries!"

Heero groaned internally, his hands clenching into fists at his sides and his cheek ticking at the strain of maintaining his self-control. This was going to be difficult.

"Would you like some?" Relena questioned politely, extending her still moist finger to him. She blushed upon the sudden realization of what she had done and quickly withdrew her outstretched hand, replacing it with the tube of lotion.

Very difficult indeed, Heero reflected.

"No," he somehow managed to grit out. "We won't use any of that stuff this time."

"Gradual adjustment, right," Relena remarked sagely, once again flopping onto her stomach. She rested her head on her folded arms and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"Heero, shouldn't you get started?"

She looked warm, fluffy, and thoroughly cuddly in that pink terrycloth bathrobe. In a word: irresistible. He swallowed, schooling his face into a mask of indifference as he approached the bed. He saw the lines of her body stiffen with each step that he took but could not find the voice within him to reassure her.

Actions always did speak louder than words with the two of them anyway.

He laid his right hand between her shoulder blades and smoothed it with a light pressure down to her lower back. She arched into his caress reflexively, some of the tenseness fading from her muscles. A tiny smile curled Heero's lips, and he settled himself on the bed beside her, never breaking the point of contact between them.

He was slow, gentle, and very quiet, and Relena found her breath deepening as a blanket of warmth and relaxation flowed over her. It took a great deal of effort to turn her head to him when he stopped.

"Is it over?" she questioned plaintively albeit sleepily, currently lacking the will to be affronted at how sulky she sounded.

"For tonight," he answered, a thread of amusement winding through his voice.

"Too bad," she mumbled, snuggling her cheek against the comforter. "I think I'll just sleep here tonight."

"You're not cold?" he questioned softly, and she felt his weight leave the bed.

Relena smiled dreamily, but did not bother to open her eyes. "How can I be cold? I'm not cold at all. Quite warm and fuzzy actually. 'Night, Heero."

x_x_x_x_x

Ten o'clock was rapidly approaching again, and once again Relena found herself pacing her room, even more agitated than she had been before.

"It's one thing for him to do it with me in my bathrobe, but quite another for him to do it with me in my underwear!" she muttered distractedly, twisting her hands in front of her.

Her stomach fluttered at the thought, and heat rose in her face. They had been skirting around their mutual attraction for years now. Relena wasn't blind or stupid. She could see it when his gaze lingered on her body and his eyes darkened. She knew what it meant and was not unaccustomed to such attention from males of all ages.

But things were quite different when something more substantial than his gaze would be touching her, and a near naked massage was far more intimate than a waltz with a backless dress could ever be.

"It all comes down to trust I suppose," she murmured, piling her hair on top of her head and hastily shoving a few pins into the golden mass to hold it in place. "Do I trust him not to take advantage of me? Of course. Do I trust myself not to take advantage of the situation?" She faltered. "Well, that might be a different story."

She stopped her restless movement and spun to face her bed slowly. She stared at its welcoming confines beneath the satin drapes that could hide them away from the world. "Perhaps we should stay away from the bed tonight."

After that declaration Relena all but hurled herself at her freestanding desk, stacking her papers in a neat line against the far wall and setting her assorted knickknacks and writing utensils on top of them. The cumbersome conferencing vid-phone she dragged over to her nightstand, swapping it for the tray of lotions and body oils.

"I really do wonder why people would want to eat their lotion. No one would make it edible if there wasn't a demand for it after all," she mused once again, idly flipping the tube in her hands. With a shrug she placed it back with the others and moved to the linen cabinet discretely tucked away behind some decorative paneling. She pulled out two plain white cotton sheets, one to lie on and one to wrap around her body.

Heero's now familiar quiet knock sounded at her door, and she stifled a yelp, dashing across the room and quickly shaking out one of the sheets and throwing it over her desk. Another knock came, and she hastily tossed the other sheet onto the desk still folded. Relena pulled her robe tightly closed against her neck and rushed for the door.

Heero's hand remained upraised between them as they stared at each other. Relena's face was flushed, and some hairs were already coming apart from their haphazard pile to fall across her face. Without thinking Heero reached out to tuck a loose lock behind her ear, his fingers lingering fractionally on the curve of her cheek. Relena turned her eyes away with a quick cough, and she pulled the door open to let him in.

"Sorry it took so long. I wasn't through setting up. I thought the desk would be better this time," she explained awkwardly. "You'd have more room to maneuver, and it's probably more like what a real massage parlor would have. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, it's fine," he replied bluntly, shrugging out of his jacket and tossing it onto the abandoned bed. He walked over to the desk, studying her setup, and seemed to find it satisfactory because he turned his gaze to her. Relena hesitated, and he raised his eyebrows.

"I'm not really sure what I should do."

"You get on the desk and let me handle the rest."

She frowned and muttered, "That's not what I meant."

Relena walked slowly to the desk, past Heero, and stood at the edge near her folded sheet, facing away from him. Her hands trembled gently as they reached for her belt and untied it. The robe slid off her back to pile on the floor, and she stood with her back to him in nothing but a pair of panties. She thought she might have heard him gulp but attributed the odd noise to the pounding of her heart in her ears as she reached for the sheet and wrapped her body in it.

Heero's eyes remained carefully averted as she turned around, and she suppressed a twinge of disappointment. He sightlessly extended a hand to help her climb onto the desk, and as she clutched the sheet to her while he boosted her up she wondered if he also felt the electricity that danced between them with that simple touch. Once she was safely and solidly perched on her desk she lay down on her stomach, letting the sheet slacken and fall loosely over her body. Her now bare front pressed against the sheet-covered desk below with nothing but her body's natural attributes to cushion her from the hardness of the wood. She wriggled uncomfortably, and Heero choked above her.

"Are you all right?" She tried to twist around and peer up at him anxiously but he held her in place. "Would you like some water? You can use the tap in the bathroom."

"No."

A strange heat lurked behind that one word that made Relena shiver, but she was by no means cold. She became suddenly, excruciatingly aware of how little she was wearing, how exposed and vulnerable she really was.

And how damn much she wanted his hands on her body.

And for a few brief terrifying moments she wondered if he could tell and if she disgusted him for it.

Heero frowned as he pulled the sheet down to her waist and rhythmically kneaded her back. Despite his best efforts she only grew more and more tense under his hands.

"Relena, you need to try to relax," he instructed her, pulling the sheet back over her bare skin and abandoning her back for more sensitive areas.

"Of course," she gasped as he lifted one of her legs slightly, running strong nimble fingers down the line of her calf muscle. He moved on, gently rotating her ankle and massaging the arch of her foot.

Pleasure scorched through Relena at the sensation, and she felt her body melt and become liquid and pliant in his hands. He had filled them with a combination of sweet scented oil and moisturizing lotion so they slid smoothly along her skin, leaving a heated satin trail behind them. Her eyes slid closed languidly as the ripples of pleasure spread across her body, and she cooed her delight.

Heero had submerged her in a warm sea, and she floated among the gentle swells his hands incited in her body. The air between them had changed, becoming suddenly sultry and heavy like the quiet before a thunderstorm. She accepted it and reveled in it, but she did not open her eyes; she knew without looking that heat lightning flickered in Heero's eyes.

One of his hands nudged firmly against her hip. "Roll over," he commanded huskily.

She slid easily onto her back beneath the sheet, her modesty still protected, and Heero resumed his path up her legs, stimulating then relaxing the muscles along her thighs and hips.

Heat curled low in Relena's belly, and she knew she flushed as his fingers drifted tantalizingly close to forbidden areas. Her heart rate increased, pulsing through her body, but she remained languid, pliable, as he had wanted. His hands skipped over the area between her thighs as she had known they would, and she suppressed a sigh of disappointment. That sigh quickly turned into a startled moan when his fingers suddenly flexed just so low on her stomach.

She opened her eyes heavily for just a moment to see his dark head bent over her. He knew exactly what he had just done to her, how it had made her feel. His eyes crackled just as she had known they would when he raised them to her face, and his hands burned her through the sheet as he ran them up her ribcage.

Her eyes fell shut again with a blissful sigh as he lifted first one of her arms and then the other. He worked the joints of her shoulder and elbows gently, his slick hands gliding along her skin wonderfully. Her skin tingled in his wake, and her heart swelled when Heero's fingers interlaced with hers as he lotioned and played with her hands.

This man could do anything he wanted to her and she would let him, Relena realized hazily as he swept both hands out and apart across her collarbone, liberally smoothing out the oil and lotion combination before flowing up to cradle her neck. His fingers firmly massaged the back of her neck while his thumbs drew light caresses down the column of her throat.

He drifted away for a moment after that, and Relena inhaled deeply as the powerful aroma of cherries filled the darkened room.

The very tips of his fingers glided across her face, and she frowned at the chill of the lotion. He smoothed the lines from her forehead with a low chuckle before moving his fingers with a bit more pressure in soothing circles along her temples and then sweeping them down her cheeks and stroking butterfly-soft across her parted lips. She licked away the lingering taste of cherries, the lingering taste of his skin, and wished desperately for more. Heero trailed one finger up and down the bridge of her nose, and she shifted closer to him with something very much like a purr when she felt him lean over her.

The warmth of his breath washed across her skin. "Do you still wonder why this lotion is edible?"

"Yes," she replied unthinkingly, dreamily, powerless to evade any question he should choose to ask her. "It's so odd."

"I can tell you why... but it'd be easier to show you."

His nose bumped against the side of her face, and her breath hitched in her throat. She stopped breathing completely when his tongue darted out, moistening a patch of skin just below her ear.

"Oh... _ohhh_!" she gasped as he pressed open-mouthed kisses across her face, occasionally stealing a taste of the cherry flavored lotion and the flushed skin underneath. Her arms stole around his shoulders, and she buried her fingers in his hair, not controlling or inhibiting his movements in any way, content to merely hold him.

Heero pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, and her lips parted in instinctive longing. She had been waiting years for this and, judging by the tense eagerness of his body, he had too. He delved into her with a ragged groan, and her hands tightened, dragging his body down against her, as his tongue caressed the silken inner walls of her mouth and dueled with her own for mastery. When they parted at last for air Relena grinned at him impishly.

"This is exactly what I was afraid of... It's not so bad," she sighed breathlessly against his mouth, peeking at him coquettishly through her bangs.

Heero glared at her, his forehead pressed against hers and his hands possessive on her body as he pulled her into a sitting position and leaned against her between her parted legs. "No one had better touch you during that massage tomorrow."

"Well, that causes quite a few problems, doesn't it?" she laughed at him. Relena kissed him affectionately on the nose, twining her bare legs around his waist. "I guess you'll just have to become my full-time masseur."

His eyes widened and a smirk played about his lips. His hands pulled at the folds of her sheet and bunched the material around her waist before stroking her bare hips in a fascinating way. "As your new masseur I demand that we move this session to a more comfortable location. You're becoming far too tense again."

"You know best," she replied meekly as Heero started backing up with her still draped around him. Her hand snagged the novelty lotion from the desktop, and she waved it at him when they tumbled onto her bed together.

"You'll need this. You missed a few spots before," she purred as he began tugging and unwinding the sheet from her body. "And I'll do you after you're done with me. It's only fair to reciprocate what you've been given."

x_x_x_x_x

Noin and Sally stared blankly at Peygan where he stood firmly blocking the doorway.

"What do you mean she won't be coming?"

"Miss Relena has decided that it would be in her best interest to obtain the services of a private masseur," he stated in a regal monotone, eyeing their rather skimpy spa clothes disapprovingly.

They looked at one another, completely puzzled.

"A masseur?" Sally repeated.

Noin made a small sound of disbelief. "Not a masseuse?"

x_x_x_x_x

"So, do you think you can do all this?" Relena questioned curiously, snatching a small booklet from her vanity and tossing it onto the exposed sheets before climbing back onto the bed, feeling her lover's heated gaze follow her every movement.

Heero propped himself up on his elbow and flipped idly through the spa pamphlet. He glanced up at her, a wicked twinkle dancing in his eyes. "I can manage. What do you want done first?"

She stretched luxuriously, and his eyes lingered entranced on the interesting things that did to her exposed body.

"Well, I've never felt so relaxed in my life," she smiled at him, walking her fingers across his stomach and down his bare hip, "but I'm rather sticky. Perhaps the warm sponge bath followed by an exfoliating scrub?"

"If that is what you desire."

"Oh, it is."

Her eyes hooded as he pulled her from the bed, tangling his fingers in her loose, tousled hair and guiding her mouth to his. They staggered in the general direction of the bathroom still locked together.

When they stumbled into the wall next to the bathroom door, she pulled away, laughing, and stroked his bangs out of his eyes. "Heero, how many flavors do you think that lotion comes in?"

"Don't know," he responded, kicking the door open and sweeping her naked form into his arms. "We'll have to find out."

x_x_x_x_x

Peygan sighed as he filled out yet another invoice. It was such tedious work. This particular catalog sold twenty-five flavors of edible body lotion, and Relena was determined to test all of them. Three other catalogs with their own brands and flavors rested near his left elbow, awaiting his attention. Fortunately for the butler, his tedium was often broken by the interesting and rather... fanciful... costumes the buxom blondes adorning the glossy pages wore.

"I am not paid to ask questions," he repeated over and over again as flipped through the catalog for the appropriate numbers and scribbled her request into the tiny boxes. "I am not paid to ask questions, I am not paid to ask-oh, lord! Miss Relena must be trying to give me a heart attack."

And somewhere above him, a bathroom-cum-makeshift spa flooded.


End file.
